Stop fighting rebirth of the South End

Published 6:21 pm, Friday, January 20, 2012

To the editor:

I am a native of Stamford's South End, I was born on Harbor Street. I laugh at the power struggle over the 4,000-square-foot commercial space in the BLT-proposed hotel on what used to be land that was used to store coal to fire our electricity generating plant 60 years ago.

This was in the past and today the South End is reborn, thanks to the creativity of investors BLT and Antares.

There is no construction going on in the entire state of Connecticut as we have going on here in Stamford. Meanwhile the Downtown Special Services District is fighting over a 4,000-square-foot ballroom. I propose that we rename the ballroom "community space" and let the project keep going. In an economy such as ours, with an inept Washington D.C., let us be more civil and realistic.

I sympathize with those who are angry over the closing of the boatyard, but what percentage of those using the boatyard were Stamford boat owners? At one time we had up to five boatyards, but none of them serviced the mega yachts that Yacht Haven serviced. From my observation Yacht Haven serviced yachts from people living out of town and/or out of state. The average Stamford citizen has a small boat, not the size boat handled at the former Yacht Haven. Draw your own conclusions.

We have two issues here. Let's resolve one before the other. We who were born in the South End have always said the South End will rise again -- and look at it today.

How magnanimous of the letter writer ("Christians and gays," Jan. 12), to suggest that Christians, "love the sinner and hate the sin," with respect to those of us who happen to be gay. The writer goes further to even be willing to enthusiastically share his Christian "charity" with gay folk but never wants to "offend" or "abuse" them in the process, a contradiction in terms.

First of all, Christians are a heterogeneous group varying in their views of those who happen to be gay. Some are more accepting and respectful and others more abusive, as has historically and currently been the case among some Christian denominations.

Those of us who are gay, are neither "sinners," nor in need of anyone's misguided and unwanted charity.

One's affectional orientation, be it heterosexual, or homosexual, is a morally neutral issue. It's only when certain groups of people imprint their values and beliefs on human sexuality do we then begin to see intolerance, hatred, and bullying behaviors.

To lovingly cast stones under the guise of religion is disingenuous and "un-Christian" at best.

Messrs. Lucarelli and Block cite in their ode to carrying guns that "only" 776 accidental deaths were caused by guns in 2000 (Opinion, Jan. 12). What they leave out is that the United States is a world leader in homicides committed by guns.

As a means to reduce the efficiency of this mayhem, I propose that private ownership of handguns should be limited to muzzle loaders, which were the only types of guns available at the time the Second Amendment was written.

Modern muzzle-loading rifles and pistols are supremely accurate, and eliminate the pollution of our forests by spent cartridges from hunters using assault rifles.

This proposal should be supported by the "strict constructionists" of the Supreme Court.

Gerald Falbel

Stamford

Poor choice

of cartoon

To the editor:

The cartoon by Mike Luckovich that you ran January 19 put Mitt Romney, who has an extraordinary record of accomplishment in several fields, in the same frame as a notorious financial crook. The cartoon is childish and awful. There is no relation, no comparison, no reason to associate the two. If this is the best cartoon the paper can afford, either the paper is broke or the editors' judgment is biased.